Expedition organizers say 2 climbers have died on Mount Everest

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — An Indian and a Filipino climber have died while climbing Mount Everest as hundreds of climbers are attempting to scale the world’s highest peak, expedition organizers said Friday.

The Indian climber, identified as Subrata Ghosh, died on Thursday just below the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit of the peak while he was returning from the top.

The other climber, identified as Philipp Santiago, 45, from the Philippines, died Wednesday while he was headed to the summit. He had reached Camp 4, which is the highest camp on the mountain, and was preparing for the final bid to reach the summit.

Bodha Raj Bhandari of the Nepal-based Snowy Horizon Trek and Expedition, which equipped and organized the expedition, said the bodies were still on the mountain and it was yet to be decided if and when they would be brought down.

Retrieving bodies is both expensive and difficult as it takes many people to drag them down the icy slopes of the mountain.

The spring climbing season began in March and ends at the end of May.

May is the best month to climb the peak and climbers get only a few opportunities when the weather conditions improve, allowing just time for them to try attempt scale the peak.

Everest was first climbed in 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. More than 300 people have died on Everest since then.